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We headed out as a group. We had dinner at a generic chain restaurant. We drove down Grand River. We got to our seats. Thru all that, I think that the four of us where more engaged in the night's events than the band we saw. O.A.R. can play; let's make no mistake about it - those guys got game. A few times during the evening we even saw evidence of this. Alas, at the end of the evening we reached a conclusion: they were just phoning it in.

There were in the ball park of eight thousand people at the Breslin Center. A truly great performer would have left with me with the impression that I was the only person there. I felt nothing like that. I felt that I was surrounded by thousand drunk college students gleefully ignorant of their fundamentally ill-mannered behavior. One does not go to a concert to have a conversation. Period. Shut up and enjoy the show for the love god. I beg of you.

At one point the band said that there were having the most fun they had had in months. If that is true, then they may be moments from suicide.

The difference between Alton Brown and myself is that after executing a recipe his kitchen is spotless, and mine is anything but. Sarah's Valentine's present is complete in time for Valentine's Day however, and that is all that matters. What's that you say? You say I'm a day too late? Nope. Tuesday was quite inconvenient for the two of us, so we just pushed it back a day. Hopefully your Valentine's Day was as least as good as mine is about to be.

Mark Jason Dominus is apartently the sort of gent that looks at things long term - very long term. Years and years ago, I was at a conference. There was an auction for the perl foundation, and MJD offered up a hat for auction. A wizard's hat.

I bid a lot for the hat, and I won it. But then, it didn't fit. He was nice enough to offer to make me a new hat that fit my head exactly. I made measurements, and sent them off in an email. Then I waited.

I waited for years.

Then today I was heading out my door on the way to class, and there was a big box on the porch. My hat had arrived, no more than one day after my birthday. Seems that not only does Dominus have the memory of an elephant, but he also has an extra-sensory ability to intuit a person's birthday.

So, after wearing this hat for the better part of the day, I can say one thing: It was worth the wait.